Twist of Fate
by kirlannakethla
Summary: Voldemort is dead. When a supposedlydead wizard turns up at Hermione’s door with a certain someone in tow, can Hermione face the ghosts of her past and forgive them both?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 Visitations in the Night**

Hermione looked up at the sky. It was night finally. The moon was full and the stars were shimmering in the heavens. The wind blew the scent of night blooming jasmine towards her, rustling the leaves of the plants and trees in the garden. Sounds of nocturnal animals and insects busy at work filled the garden, and the croak of crickets completed the picture.

The garden was beautiful, especially during the day, but Hermione preferred it at night.

_At night when no one bothers me_ she mused silently as she moved towards the weeping willow tree at the bottom of her garden. At the foot of the willow was a nice little pond, currently home to fish and frogs. She sat, leaning against the tree, ankles and legs dangling in the water as she stared into the murky water.

It didn't bother her much to be alone. Ron and Harry made sure she didn't spend her time in total seclusion, but they were both married now, and Harry had a child. A daughter he and Ginny had said she was auntie to, seeing as Harry had no siblings. She had cried when they had told her that, but as time passed, she revelled in being Aila's aunt.

_Aila _she mused again as she stirred slightly. The four-year-old had done what her name suggested and brought some light into Hermione's life, but the majority of days were still dark. She had gone home at the end of her sixth year, after Professor Dumbledore's funeral, to find the Dark Mark above her house. Professor Lupin and Auror Moody had brought her back to Twelve Grimmauld Place for the summer, until Harry and Ron had come to find her so that they could track down the Dark Lord and kill him once and for all.

Harry was furious after Voldemort's demise – Snape hadn't been there. He'd promised that their old Potions Professor would pay for killing Harry's father-figures. Okay, so Snape hadn't exactly caused Sirius' death, but to Harry, and Ron - Gods, even herself! - it seemed that he'd as good as killed him. He hadn't brought help fast enough, and so Sirius had died. Then, in their fateful sixth year, Snape had killed Headmaster Dumbledore, and Harry had vowed vengeance.

Hermione sighed and settled back against the tree, her eyes closing. The wind rustled, speaking to her gently.

Hang on a minute... Speaking?

She cautiously opened an eye and glanced around, trying to maintain the semblance of slumber. The back garden was empty. She rose silently to her feet and crept quietly to the gate separating the front of the house from the back.

_I was sure I closed that..._

She moved slowly, wand ready, keeping within the shadows.

That was when she saw him.

A flash of moonlight breaking out from behind the clouds illuminated her for a moment; he thought she looked like some sort of Valkyrie in her black lace nightgown, wild hair hanging loosely around her shoulders and her wand held as if it were a dagger. She looked ready to kill. And, he realised, he was the one on the receiving end of that rage.

Hermione snarled monstrously as she pointed her wand at him.

"Do not move, _Professor_!" she hissed icily as she stepped out of the shadows. She glanced at his hand. "Throw the wand at my feet," she ordered.

He snorted in reply.

"I think you'll find I am faster then you at hexing - _Petrificus Totalus!"_ she yelled, but he ducked out of the way rapidly. She fired off more hexes at him, designed to keep him immobile until she could summon an Auror, but he had anticipated this from her and didn't stay still long enough for her hexes to hit home.

After roughly ten minutes of this, Snape was hoping she would tire, but the clever young witch showed no signs of stopping._Good gods…where i**s** he _Snape thought, casting a quick glance around - but that was all she needed to hit him with an Impediment Jinx. He dropped to the floor with a curse of his own, vocally abusing the English language.

Hermione merely raised an eyebrow at his choice vocabulary and stood over him, wand pointed scant inches from his face. She heard a popping sound behind her and whirled around, thinking that perhaps he'd had back-up of the Death Eater variety, but that was her last thought before someone hit her with a _Petrificus Totalus_.

xxxx

Hermione shivered and pulled the blanket around her more snugly. The sensations of it against her exposed skin made her sigh. She opened a sleepy eye, wondering how she had gotten into her room, and – _Snape_!

She jumped to her feet, and promptly fell to the floor. Gentle hands picked her up and placed her back into the bed. She looked at the other occupant of the room – he was muttering words of comfort to her, assurances that everything was alright. He was... _Snape_. Hermione yelped and her hands roamed wildly for something - _anything_ - to hit him with. She found something suitably heavy and reached for it, but he restrained her arms, pinning them to the bed as he prised the object out of her hands.

"Enough, Severus," a commanding male voice said from behind them. Hermione stiffened. The voice seemed rather familiar, but she couldn't place where she had heard it. Snape let go of her arms and propelled himself off the bed, in case she attempted another attack. He was still in pain from where he had hit his head on the floor after she had cursed him.

Hermione sat up, holding the sheet against her as she glanced around the room, still trying to place the voice. A wand landed on the bed next to her and she picked it up with one trembling hand.

"_Lumos!"_ she whispered, her voice shaking as much as her hand. A faint light emerged from the tip of her wand, and the owner of the familiar voice stepped into the glow. Hermione's eyes widened, lips forming silent words.

_No…it can't be! No_

The twenty-four-year-old witch fainted in a graceless heap on the bed.

The male sighed and Severus snorted.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N I'd like to thank Phaet (who is probably banging her head on the keyboard at my massacre of English again). Phaet, I'll buy you a new red pen._

_I'd also like to thank Hannah, who has to put up with me ranting and raving 4 out of 5 days of the week at college._

_Kiri_

**Chapter 2 The Truth Will Out.**

"This is ridiculous!" Severus Snape snapped as he paced the small enclosed space that was Hermione's sleeping chambers. The other man merely raised his eyebrow in amusement as he watched the tall, dark-haired man worry the floor.

"Relax, Severus."

"She _did _hex me," Snape retorted, just as the young witch on the bed stirred.

Hermione opened her eyes and glanced round the room, muttering that it had all been a dream and she was hoping beyond hope. Snape snorted at her comments, which drew her gaze to his face.

"It wasn't a dream, I am afraid, Miss Granger," the other male in the room said, approaching the bed and taking her hands in his.

"But how?" she whispered, crying softly, clinging to his hands as if they were a lifeline which would vanish and leave her to drown. "Your body... I saw it! Harry told me what happened, what he _saw_!" By now, Hermione was crying freely and the man's face softened immensely. Snape merely rolled his eyes as he slumped elegantly into an over-stuffed chair at the opposite side of the room.

"Polyjuice Potion," Snape sneered at her, like she was a student again. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. He had a cold, haughty, superior look in his black eyes. How she wanted to wipe that smug look off his face.

"If that is the case, how do I know you are who you say you are now? How do I know you're not really some... some Death Eater?" Hermione said snatching her hands out of the man's grip.

Snape snorted at her.

"Think, girl!" he spat at her.

"Professor Dumbledore?" she asked tentatively. The man – Dumbledore – nodded, his eyes twinkling as Hermione threw herself onto him, sobbing for all she was worth.

"There, there, Miss Granger," he said, petting her back softly.

"So Snape didn't kill you? What happened?"

"Are you ready to know?" Dumbledore asked; his face suddenly serious. Hermione nodded and he stood up and paced to the window, gazing out into the moonlit garden below.

"Severus came to me at the start of your seventh year and told me how he was forced to make an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa Malfoy, to help Draco should he fail in the task that Voldemort had set him – to kill me. Suffice it to say, Draco did fail, but the loss was not something he expected." He turned to face the room once more and the occupants shifted their gaze to him. Hermione's was one of disbelief while Snape portrayed casual boredom.

"You know that I was often not at Hogwarts that year?" She nodded, staying silent for fear of stopping him from telling his tale. "As Harry has probably told you, I was searching for Voldemort's Horcruxes. Unfortunately, I met with a rather upsetting accident. I was kidnapped; Voldemort sent Peter Pettigrew to take my place and lead Harry to his death in the cave containing the fake Slytherin locket."

"Unluckily, or perhaps luckily," Snape drawled, picking up the story, "Wormtail didn't manage to kill Potter; it seems he owed the irritating boy a life debt. Instead, he took him back to Hogwarts, so the Death Eaters could kill him there."

Dumbledore nodded and continued his narrative. "I was taken to the cellar of Riddle Manor, where Voldemort proceeded to torture me for information on... various subjects." Hermione winced to hear him speak about what happened to him as casually as one would comment on the weather.

"I killed Wormtail, thinking he was Albus." Snape continued the story at this point and Hermione switched her attention to her former Potions Professor. "The Dark Lord was pleased with me; it had been a test of my loyalty, you see. The Dark Lord had begun to doubt my obedience to him, which can usually end in several nasty ways. The first clue that all was not what it seemed was when he ordered Bellatrix and Narcissa to release me from the Vow – I thought it was strange that he would order this, since Albus was already dead. But then, Voldemort was never known for his predictability, and I thought nothing more of it." He sounded bitter, and Hermione thought that she could pick up a hint of apology in his tone.

_No; not from Snape_

"I noticed, of course, the conspicuous absence of Wormtail, but I assumed that he had failed his master and was being punished once again." The derision was thick in Snape's voice as he spoke. "However, late that summer, Malfoy let it slip that Dumbledore wasn't co-operating, and he requested a vial of Veritaserum. Of course, I was not present in the room, but the other Death Eaters," the last was said with rich sarcasm, "had been careful not to mention anything of the matter to me, apparently fearing my loyalty even after their master had said otherwise. While they were occupied, I slipped down to the cellar and saw Albus."

"He rescued me and we Apparated to a secure location I knew of, where Severus proceeded to heal me. It took many months for me to regain my strength," Albus finished.

Hermione was staring at the pair in disbelief. "Why didn't you contact Harry? Let him know you were alive?" she demanded, a flash of her famous temper visible through her forcibly calm demeanour.

"I could not. The Death Eaters had their spies in Harry's group – yes Miss Granger you_ were_being spied upon – and I could not risk Tom knowing that I was still alive. He assumed I had died through my injuries, as death itself was knocking upon the door shortly before my escape." Albus at Snape, "had to find the locations of the remaining Horcruxes and send word of them to Harry."

"So that was _you_?" Hermione breathed, shocked. They had always wondered who had been sending the mysterious messages with the information they needed, right_when_ they had needed it. Dumbledore merely nodded; an amused twinkling in his eyes.

"Why now? Why do you choose now after all this time? And why... why me? Why not Harry?"

"Because Harry is in danger."


	3. Chapter 3

I A/N Once again, I'd like to thank Phaet for being an excellent beta. Also, this time, I'd like to thank all those who reviewed my previous chapters your comments were so nice to read and reaffirmed my belief in myself as a writer. So thanks again folks.

_Also, to Hannah, my number one fan for putting up with my antics in London on Monday. Yay for 'Persian Snap'. _

And also, to Matt, you aspiring addict to mine writing Oh and the title for Chapter 2 was taken from the 90's television show Knightmare. This one is from my most hated Shakespeare Macbeth. /I 

Chapter 3 Double, Double, Potions and Trouble!

Hermione yawned as she sat at the kitchen table, a cup of bitterly-strong coffee in front of her. It had been a long, emotional night; one which she never wished to forget. i Dumbledore alive? /i She shook her head, still thinking it was a dream, despite many hours in the spare room which she had converted into a rough lab.

She yawned again, taking a sip of the cold brew, gagging slightly at the temperature. Her eyes were focused on what looked like a rough piece of parchment, attempting to determine its meaning and failing miserably. Dumbledore's words of the night before kept coming to the forefront of her mind.

i Harry is in danger /i , he had said. She shivered. Harry was her best friend. She'd asked Dumbledore what the danger was, and had been surprised when she'd actually gotten an answer out of him.

Harry was being poisoned. Slowly and methodically being transformed into some fell creature. Some dark thing. And she and Snape had to brew a potion and make up a few spells to cure him... Dumbledore had made it sound easy. When he'd Dissapparated, Snape had snarled a terse insult at the now-vacant spot, then proceeded to inform her that it wasn't going to be easy at all, and that there was much work to be done.

Hermione understood why Dumbledore had come to her now. It was because she had graduated at the top of her university class and had become a curse-breaker for Gringotts, after telling the Ministry precisely what they could do with their job offer when she discovered that they had been spying on her because she was Harry's friend.

A small sound roused her from her contemplation, a Snape gracefully swept into the kitchen and fixed himself a cup of tea.

"Really, Miss Granger, I would have thought you would be busily researching how to save your precious Potter, rather than staring into space," he sneered as he leaned against the counter, cup in hand. She wished she could throw her own mug at him, but that would prove unproductive at best. She was supposed to be working with the man, after all, not contemplating homicide.

"I was thinking," she replied weakly, the smug look on his face making her feel as if she were a student again. She swore at him and left the kitchen, heading to the small laboratory in her cellar.

Hermione stormed into her lab in the cellar and glared around dangerously. Even after all thee years Snape still made her want to cry. How were they supposed to work together when he made her feel so... inadequate? And it didn't help that she didn't even know what she was looking for, just that it was a spell to do something to a potion that Snape is going to make once he finds the right one in the pile of books Dumbledore had left.

She sighed and pulled her wand out as she moved over to a pile of those same books on her workbench. She chose one at random and waved her wand over it, muttering _" I _ _Specialis Revelio /I !"_ Why she hadn't thought of this sooner, she didn't know, but anything was worth a try.

The book shuddered and whipped open, pages flicking faster and it eventually settle on a spell. Hermione pulled another book to her, this one looked infinitely newer. It was leather bound and black, engraved with runes she recognised from Ancient Runes when she was a student. It was the sold reason she had bought the book when she had seen it in a muggle shop.

She opening it to its first page and inked a quill as she regarded the spell she had found. She read the spell to herself. _"' I A spell to multiply the effect of any potion /I ._' Hmm could be interesting and useful. Right, lets see then – _' I First, create the Amplifying Potion /I _' Amplifying Potion? Never heard of it," she frowned, absently chewing on the end of her inked quill, smearing the black ink onto her lips. "Okay let me read on and see... _' I Next drink the potion and raise your wand over the potion you wish to be blessed with multiplication. Flick the wand to the left, then the right and finally in a 'D' shape, saying this incantation 'Amply plus strenia' and shout the number of how much you wish the potion to be multiplied by /I _.'" She wrote the spell down in her black tome. It might come in handy if the potion wasn't strong enough. She set a number of Dumbledore's books on her bench and waved her wand at them. As they flicked through themselves, she idly pottered around the lab, straightening the shelves and glancing at the titles of the books Dumbledore had left for Snape.

"If it were as easy as I that /I ," Snape smirked from the staircase, waving his hand at the flicking books. "Don't you think Albus and I would have found what we are looking for already?" He sneered at her as he moved into the lab, his robes billowing around him. He waved his wand at the books and they shut.

"What were you thinking?" He hissed as he glided up to her, staring dispassionately as the smaller witch in front of him.

"I... I... I merely thought..."

"No, thinking would have been to much to expect from the little Gryffindor Know-it-all. Perhaps you 'think'," the word was thick with sarcasm. "That the greatest wizard of all time had not tried this already. Or perhaps you thought you are a better witch than Albus Dumbledore is wizard? Or perhaps," he leaned in dangerously. "You thought you could half-heartedly search for the answer using the information that your pathetic brain already knows while you dreamt idly?" his voice had gotten dangerously low.

"I... No... I..." Hermione stammered and he sneered at her. "It's going to take months to read all these books. I just thought that maybe I could get the spells for potions..."

"Oh I'm sorry," he growled at her. "I I _assumed_ /I you wanted to save the deplorable Potter. Forgive my mistake." He mocked bowed at her, the one act showing all of his loathing of the girl. Why on earth Albus thought that this... this I child /I could help them, gods only knew. Merlin, he hated the Potter brat, but Albus had all but forced him to aid this foolish endeavour.

Hermione was furious. How dare he? Of course she anted to save Harry; he was her friend. She raised her eyes to his, her cheeks red with her wrath.

"How dare you?" She seethed, her hands in fists shaking at her sides. "How I _dare_ /I you suggest I don't want to help him? You don't know anything about me, about my life. We're not at school anymore I _Professor /I _. And you want to know something?" She asked and then carried on when he opened his mouth to answer her. She stared thrusting her finger into his chest at random intervals of her speech, emphasising certain words. "I'll tell you. We're long past any time when I'd have done practically anything to earn your praise; we're long past any time when I might have respected your intelligence. Because obviously you have none! You act like… like some sort of superior being, prancing around I _my_ /I house like I was a student and you, my teacher, but I'm not and you're not! You haven't told me anything about what we're supposed to be searching for. How am I supposed to find some miracle spell when I don't know what's wrong with Harry or what the spell will do?" The last was snarled directly at the wizard. Their faces were so close in their anger that it seemed a single breath would bring their lips together.

Severus blinked slowly. "Have you quite finished your fit of histrionics, Miss Granger?" He asked slowly. Hermione took a ragged breath and nodded, stepping back when she realised how physically close she was to the man who had made her life hell in school. A delicate blush appeared on her cheeks as she slumped into a chair, suddenly exhausted.

"Good. Then perhaps we could continue?" He mocked, not waiting for her permission before opening a random book and beginning to flick through it.

"If you tell me what you've tried, then maybe I won't make stupid mistakes," she said in a small voice that sounded thick with emotion.

He sighed, closing his book. He felt sorry for he somewhat. After all she was close to the Potter boy and stood by him as he killed the Dark Lord.

"Very well, Miss Granger. The spell you seek is one, which will, hopefully, activate the potion I am searching for. What it, or the potion is named, I know not. Albus has already tried your little idea, but came up with nothing. We have discovered, however, that the answer is a half-half, that is half…"

"I know what half-half is."

"Of course you do," he sneered at her once more. "You need a male and a female to make the potion safe to drink, otherwise it is most deadly. However, perhaps you could double check. Albus is nothing if a bit absent minded." He waved his wand and Hermine's books started flicking once again. She nodded and settled to wait.

"As to what is wrong with Potter… he is the victim of some ancient magic which Albus is currently investigating."

xxxx

The rest of the day passed in a blur of magic, books and frustration. They'd forgotten lunch and dinner, so absorbed were they in their work. Hermione had filled in several blank paged in her tome with spells that could be used in conjunction with potions. Severus had copied several potions onto scrap pieces of parchment.

"Uhh," Severus groaned, pressing his hands to his forehead. Hermione glanced up, questioningly. "We should rest for now," he told her. She began to protest. "We might miss something if we are tired." His stomach rumbled. "And hungry," he added as an afterthought. She sighed and nodded, knowing he was right.

When they had tied up their books and left the lab, Hermione turned to the locked door and waved her wand, activating warding spells. Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Thieves. Or just in case," she elaborated as they made their way to her tiny kitchen to prepare a simple meal.

They ate in stony silence, their companionship not established, for she and he felt an immense dislike of the other. Small talk was not originated, yet once Severus brought up mention of their shared work, the conversation grew animated as they discussed the day's findings. Soon it was beyond midnight and they were both weary, having been up for roughly twenty-four hours each. Hermione stood and placed her plate in the sink, gesturing for him to do the same.

"Come on, I'll show you to a spare room," she said as she dragged her body through the door way and up the stairs. He followed her, not reluctantly, for he wished a good night's sleep and a productive day tomorrow. The quicker they found what they were looking for, the sooner he could leave this infuriating woman.

Hermione paused outside a room on the first floor. "This is my room," she informed him, giving him a level stare, which conveyed more than the words themselves, did. "The door way at the end of the hall is the bathroom. Feel free to use it. And this," she paused in front of another door. "Is yours. Dumbledore had said he'd Apparate your belongings here so you could change." Clearly the idea of him living in her house excited her about as much as the thought of watching a flobberworm reproduce. About the same as it excited him. He inclined his head at her and vanished into the room, firmly shutting the door in her face. How that woman riled him. He found his chest of clothes in the middle of the room and thought of Hermione's outburst in the lab earlier. I I do so ever much enjoy goading her /I , he thought, smirking to himself as he fished out a towel and made his way to the bathroom to wash.

Perhaps, he thought as he shaved, perhaps he should tell her exactly what was wrong with her beloved Potter? No, she wouldn't believe him. She still believed he was a Death Eater. He nicked himself with his razor and swore loud. Pressing some tissue to it, he headed back to his room and stripped for bed.

He had once thought the Granger woman an intellectual equal to himself. Today's display of her fiery Gryffindor temper and her stupidity in that reveal spell had made him think otherwise. But yet again, the damned woman had surprised him, not only by admitting her mistake, but also by trying to rectify it through reasonably and logically based arguments to which he finally acquiesced and gave her what she wanted. He gave the room a secretive smile as he remembered her in her sixth year at Hogwarts and the consequent years Albus had made him keep track of her. Oh, he'd watched her grow from a pathetic little girl always trying to please everyone, to a mature and capable adult. Someone who could stand in front of the Dark Lord and not be afraid to die. The mere thought aroused him once more as it did the years he had been her unseen observer.

He rolled onto his back, his erection pressing the sheets, and tried to sleep. After all, he would need all of his strength to top him from slapping her eagerness down in the morning.


End file.
